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LOCAL NEWS
Fiordland Advocate
Mrs Tauri’s
daughter
Danica,
the camp’s
marketing
manager,
agreed.
“They’ve
taken
freedom
camping
and created
a free camp
ground
rather than
addressing
the issue,”
she said.
“As soon as you open a place like
that for free they think everything
else is free.”
Lex Mouat, who operates his
Luxmore Jet business on the
Waiau River — launching at
Queen’s Reach and therefore
seeing the effects of camping on
the area on a daily basis — said
he saw no option now than to
immediately close the area to all
camping. While it would be a huge
shame for the many local people
who took family breaks there, the
horse had bolted on this situation
and the only way to restore the
area was to close it. It could then
be reopened in a year or so, with
no fanfare or advertising, so it
could be enjoyed in the ways it
traditionally had been, he said.
Freedom camping is not permitted
in the national park outside
designated campsites but it is
allowed on public conservation
land unless specifically restricted
or prohibited. Queen’s Reach has
always been open to freedom
campers and, indeed, is regularly
used by local families.
Mr Molloy is one of those who
takes his children camping
there but agreed with Mr Mouat
and said he’d rather forgo that
privilege for a year or so in order
to enable the area to return to the
way it was.
DOC visitor assets programme
manager Ross Kerr defended the
Queen’s Reach trial, saying it had
taken out-of-control camping and
put it “all in one spot”. He was
surprised to learn of calls to shut
the area to camping altogether
and warned that would just move
the problem “back to town”.
Mr Kerr acknowledged there were
some problems with toilet paper
and excrement at Queen’s Reach
but said rangers were cleaning
that up regularly.
The camping ranger trial is due
to finish at the end of April after
which DOC plans to review all of
the data it has gathered and make
recommendations for the future.
One thing already being mooted
was to close Queen’s Reach to all
but fully self-contained vehicles.
“We’re trying to find what is a
happy marriage in all of this and
what’s going to be workable...
at the end of the day we’re just
trying.”
But he did promise that the public
would be involved in identifying
that solution.
“We’re certainly going to have a
public meeting — sooner rather
than later — and take stock of the
whole freedom camping thing,
where we have come from, the
good, bad and the ugly and where
do we go to.”
More than anything DOC wanted
people to enjoy places like
Queen’s Reach responsibly, he
said.
“It’s how best we can do that.”
Page 4 | 16 February, 2012
This toilet paper was on the grass less
than 50m from the public toilet at
Queen’s Reach. PHOTO: Danica Tauri
Freedom campers have been preparing, and often lighting,
camp fires at Queen’s Reach oblivious to the signs advising a
total fire ban is in place.
PHOTO: Kirsty Macnicol
Free camp
concerns (Continued from Page 1)
Horses once again reigned
supreme at the Lindsay & Dixon
and Fonterra-sponsored Waiau
A&P Show held at Tuatapere at the
weekend.
The Tuatapere Domain, normally
host to the area’s rugby grounds,
masqueraded fittingly as an
equestrian arena offering
all-day action with the occasional
thrill and spill, keeping the crowd
enthralled.
Show secretary Isobel Devery said
she was really happy with how
the day panned out, including
the crowd numbers, which were
slightly up on last year.
Children’s entertainment was
high on the agenda and included
a flurry of action during the Big
Dig when children from all over
the domain descended on the
sawdust mountain to dig for
treasure. Big Dig co-ordinator
Sandy MacGillivray, at risk of being
buried in the stampede, split the
children into age groups and then
stood back and watched as the
three-metre sawdust mountain
was decimated in minutes.
Local farmer George
Broughton, renowned
locally for his ability to
create chaotic fun, had the
crowd in stitches with his
self-styled Foxy Racing event
—
something which had to
be seen to be believed.
The day’s formalities
ended with a splendid
display as the Waimatuku
Pipe Band led the Grand
Parade in a
circuit of the
domain.
Waiau Show a treasure
ABOVE: Waiau A&P Show Big Dig co-ordinator Sandy MacGillivray launches the
event before beating a hasty retreat as (below) youngsters plough into the 3m
sawdust pile in search of buried treasure.
PHOTO: Trudi Baird
By Trudi Baird
The grand parade was, as always, a popular spectacle.
PHOTO: Trudi Baird
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Call Chris for details